Ross & Co Hair Design in Cambridge is the Thornton Road branch of an award-winning Waikato salon group known for vibrant colours, stylish cuts and a genuinely customer-focused experience. The team calls itself your Waikato hair experts, and every appointment is built around a complimentary consultation, a luxury wash, a scalp massage and the salon's signature ritual 'extras' — small touches meant to make you feel as good as you look.
The group's mission goes beyond hair: Ross & Co sets out to change the lives of its team members, and that people-first culture has been recognised with winner badges for People & Culture and Excellence in New/Emerging Business, plus Best Salon in Waikato at the Waipa Business Awards. Working with professional brands including Wella Professionals, ghd, Sebastian Professional, System Professional and Wet Brush, the salon offers hair colour (from grey retouches to natural lived-in blondes), Keratin Complex smoothing, blowouts, in-salon treatments, hair packages and occasion Hair Up styling.
New clients can claim $50 off their first colour service, loyal regulars are rewarded through the salon's loyalty programme, and children from age 12 are welcome. Appointments are secured with a deposit, which is credited toward your service on the day.
Step into Ross & Co Hair Design on Thornton Road and you're walking into one of the Waikato's most decorated salon groups. The Cambridge branch carries the same promise that has earned the wider team a shelf of trophies: completely customer-focused hair care, specialising in vibrant colours and stylish cuts for all, delivered with what the salon calls a quality client experience that can't be beat.
The group's mission is unusually people-centred. Ross & Co sets out to be recognised not just for providing employment but for changing the lives of its team members — and the salon believes you can feel that difference in the way the team looks after you. It's a philosophy recognised publicly: the business has collected winner badges for Excellence in New/Emerging Business and People & Culture, was named Best Salon in Waikato at the Waipa Business Awards, and has been shortlisted for honours including Innovation & Technology, Loyalty and Customer Choice at the NZ Industry Awards, where it has also featured as an Excellence in Marketing finalist and an Industry Trainer.
If there's one thing to book Ross & Co for, it's colour. The team positions itself as the Waikato's hair experts for bold, bright, stand-out colour — whether that's a retouch to cover what they affectionately call the 'sparkles' (grey hair) or stunning, natural lived-in blondes. Work is grounded in professional product lines including Wella Professionals, ghd, Sebastian Professional, System Professional and Wet Brush.
New clients get a particularly warm welcome: there's $50 off the first colour service, claimable by signing up on the salon's website.
Every appointment starts with a complimentary consultation, where stylists ask questions and use their expertise to map out the best options for your look. From there, each cut includes a luxury wash, scalp massage and shampoo, along with the salon's ritual 'extras' — small touches designed so you leave feeling as good as you look.
Client reviews paint a consistent picture. Hayley Carson called her colour with Trish 'beyond my expectations' and flagged the 'absolutely class coffee'; Alicia Harder, nervously returning to a salon after more than 15 years, praised staff whose 'amazing manners' extend to each other as much as to customers; Rachel Hood enjoyed a relaxing pre-cut treatment; and Kimbly Duggan loves the vibe, describing a team that's 'totally supportive of each other, a proper team.'
Alongside its core cut-and-colour work, the salon offers Keratin Complex smoothing, blowouts, in-salon hair treatments and bundled hair packages. For special events, Hair Up styling is available — though a consultation is required before the appointment can be booked, so your stylist can talk through your hair type, the look you're after and how to prep.
Children are welcome from age 12, and teen and children's cuts are charged at the same rate as adult appointments because they're booked for the same length of time and level of expertise. Aspiring models can also put their hand up for the salon's hair model programme, where training services are complimentary.
Ross & Co runs a deposit system to secure appointment times; deposits are credited toward your service on the day and are refundable with sufficient notice under the cancellation policy. Cancelling within 10 minutes of your appointment or not showing up adds a 50% fee of the missed appointment to your next visit.
Late appointments are available two nights a week for a small $15 surcharge, which applies even if your appointment simply finishes after 5pm. And if you're not happy with your hair, contact the salon within seven days — adjustments are complimentary, though you'll need to come in so the team can assess the hair in person.
Loyal regulars are looked after too, with a loyalty rewards programme celebrating clients who return again and again. Bookings can be made online, making it easy to lock in your next visit to the Thornton Road salon.